World briefs

Citigroup has boosted chief executive officer Vikram Pandit’s base salary to $US1.75 million from $US1.00 after the bank reported the first profit for a year under his watch. Mr Pandit has led the US-based lender since December 2007 and oversaw its $US45 billion bailout by taxpayers the next year. In February 2009, he told legislators his salary would be capped at $US1.00 until the firm returned to profitability; last week it reported a $US10.6 billion profit for 2010. Bloomberg

Thousands of people rallied in Tunisia at the weekend, calling on their new government to quit, as Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said he would resign only when the first democratic vote since independence has been held. Demonstrators in Tunis were joined by hundreds of members of the police, discredited because of the bloody crackdown on protests against president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali that led to his ousting on January 14. AFP

Andy Coulson, a member of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s inner circle, has resigned as Downing Street’s director of communications, saying the wave of allegations that he was involved in illegal phone hacking when editor of News of the World made it impossible for him to continue.The Guardian

Korea National Oil Corp and Korea Gas Corp and other energy companies in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-biggest crude importer, may increase spending on overseas oil and gas fields by 30 per cent this year. Expenditure on overseas energy assets may rise to $US7.8 billion this year from $US6 billion in 2010. Bloomberg

Irish Prime Minister
Brian Cowen
has resigned as leader of the Fianna Fail party after a failed attempt to reshuffle his cabinet. He said he would remain as the head of government until parliamentary elections on March 11. His coalition partners, the Greens, had rejected the cabinet reshuffle.Bloomberg

JPMorgan Chase has awarded chief executive Jamie Dimon’s top 15 executives more than $US73 million in restricted shares, plus stock options, for their performance last year. The bank granted 1.67 million shares and an almost equal number of options to his operating committee. Bloomberg

New Zealand had extended financial support for the Export Credit Office, which provides backing to exporters, for three years until June 2014, Finance Minister Bill English said. The government would also extend the office’s ability to provide short-term credit insurance, he said. Bloomberg

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, said fourth-quarter profit rose 31 per cent as surging crude prices drove a drilling boom in North America. Net income rose to $US1.04 billion from $US795 million a year earlier. Bloomberg